The death of the Syndicate scouts didn't trigger an alarm in the Lower Commons, but on the global system grid, Itachi's profile changed color. The pale blue icon of a standard Pawn began to flicker with a dark, oily violet hue—the mark of an Anomalous Element.
[System Grid Alert: Pawn Itachi has occupied Square E-5]
[Global Threat Level: Recalculating... Tier-A Threshold Approaching]
Itachi walked out of the container slum, his carbon-steel rod now balanced on his shoulder. Ahead of him lay the Great Transit Line—a massive, six-track mag-lev railway that circled the base of the primary spires. To enter the inner corporate sectors, he had to cross the tracks.
But the tracks weren't empty.
Sitting on a floating concrete platform directly over the central rail line was a single figure. He wore the immaculate, midnight-blue coat of a Board Bishop (Level 30). His hair was cropped short, his face completely smooth, and he was currently floating a black obsidian chess piece between his fingers.
"The Pawn has a remarkably clean trajectory," the Bishop said, his voice echoing across the empty tracks via localized acoustic amplification. "Vane was an idiot who relied too much on his armor's weight, but the scouts were fast. You didn't use a single high-tier skill to dismantle them. Why?"
Itachi stopped at the edge of the first rail, his eyes tracking the high-voltage lines running along the ground. "Skills cost mana. Mana costs credits to replenish in the lower sectors. I prefer to operate within a balanced budget."
The Bishop let out a cold, elegant laugh. "A budget? You're playing on the Grandmaster's board, kid. Every breath you take is a debt to the corporation. And right now, your account is severely overdrawn."
The Bishop stood up, his obsidian piece dissolving into a cloud of black data needles that hovered around his sleeves.
[Target Identified: Bishop Eric (Level 30)]
[Classification: Reality-Warping Specialist]
[Aura Field: Active (Gravity Manipulation)]
The moment the Bishop's aura engaged, the air around Itachi grew heavy. The weight of his own clothing seemed to double, then triple. The dirt at his feet compressed into solid stone, and his system interface began to blink with low-priority warnings.
[Warning: Local Gravity increased by 2.5x]
[Movement Efficiency: Reduced by 50%]
"Can you still move your 'Stubborn Advance' under three hundred pounds of pressure?" the Bishop smiled, his hand extending forward. The black needles aligned themselves with Itachi's throat.
Itachi didn't try to lift his feet. He looked down at the mag-lev rail three inches away from his boot. The steel line was pulsing with a rhythmic, green magnetic field every six seconds to keep the cargo trains hovering.
"The gravity field is an external data overlay," Itachi said, his voice completely unbothered by the pressure crushing his lungs. "It requires five hundred watts of power per square meter to maintain. Eric, your personal battery pack is located in your coat's rear lining. It's currently drawing power from the local grid line."
The Bishop's smile faltered. "What does that matter? You can't reach me from there."
"I don't need to reach you," Itachi said. "I just need to ground the circuit."